“We don’t know the side effects of this drug. It’s too expensive. Insurance won’t cover it. It hasn’t been studied enough. It will encourage slutty behavior. And why the hell don’t people just use condoms?”
Sounds familiar? That has been the objections raised to the oral contraceptive progesterone (“The Pill”), approved by the FDA 54 years ago. And it seems that with Truvada as an alternative method to prevent a HIV infection it started similar. Pre-exposure prophylaxis would add to more sexual contacts, critics claimed and they painted the picture of orgies and inhibited sex lives. In an article at TheBody.com Mark S King tries to tackle all those concerns and to come up with a new assessment about the drug and its benefits and disadvantages as a prophylaxis.
To read more go to TheBody.com.
Damon L Jacobs from New York tackles this topic from a more practical side. He decided to take Truvada as PrEP since 2011 and reports on his findings in an article on this blog. As he is also a psychotherapist and safe sex educator in NY and SF it is indeed an interesting read. For more go to the blog.
The question is obviously whether PrEp would also function in South Africa and what the financial implications would be, if insurance companies and even government would consider this to be offered on a wider scale. This is certainly up to a debate which we have to start sooner than later.
Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Reflection, Africa, Aids, condom, health, hiv, HIV Prevention, life, medical aid, people living with the virus, Pre-exposure prophylaxis, PreP, research, sexuality, south africa
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 